


Legend

by clownscorp (orphan_account)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Read Legend by Marie Lu, dystopia au, rebel Kara, rebel Nia, soldier Lena, supercorp au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24745243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/clownscorp
Summary: The Republic has taken over the United States. Seventeen year old Lena Luthor is a prodigy, she trains to become apart of the small military circle of the Republic. Seventeen year old Supergirl is the number one enemy to the Republic and the most wanted criminal in the country for going against the Republic. How could two teenagers the same age have such different lives and mindsets?-Legend au based off the book Legend by Marie Lu, go read books by Marie Lu shes a really good author and as far as I know shes not transphobic like JKR. A few important things to know is that Lex isn't evil and neither is Lillian. No one actually knows Supergirls real name besides Kara and Nia. Nia is working with Kara.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Querl Dox/Nia Nal
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**_The biggest thing that doesn't quite make sense with Supergirl is that she has never killed anyone before. That's another thing to add to the list of reasons why I think she's not affiliated with the Patriots. She once snuck into a quarantine zone and the police officer that claimed to have seen her only had a black eye to show that he wasn't lying. Another time she somehow got into a bank vault and left six guards untouched yet confused she once tricked fighter jets and air ships yet there were no fatalities. She has stolen foods, clothes, money and goods. But she doesn't shoot soldiers, she doesn't attempt murder, she doesn't kill. So why Lex? Supergirl could have made her escape without killing him. Did she hold some sort of grudge? Did my brother do something in the past to make her hate him? It could not have been an accident the knife went straight through Lex's heart. Straight through his cocky, smart, stubborn, loving, stupid heart. Supergirl and her adventures used to fascinate me but now she's my enemy-my target._ **

**_My first mission._ **

** Kara **

Obviously I'm not dead but it's safer for Alex and Eliza to think so. At least four times a month I see my Wanted poster on Jumbo Trons everywhere in National City. It's so out of place, it would be funny if it didn't mean everyone was trying to look for me and Rhea most likely wanted my head on a platter. The other pictures are so happy usually a kids birthday announcement or smiling families looking up at something. There's the occasional picture of a tourist with a camera and the words 'Visit again soon' under it. I wonder who visits anymore and what do they visit for? My personal favorite advertisement is the anti-Colonies propaganda. The Colonies want our land" "Don't let them conquer your homes! Support the cause!" Funny. 

But that's not even the best part, when they make a wanted poster for me there is always a different photo running alongside the report. One time it was just a feminine looking boy with glasses and long blonde hair. Another time it was a girl with black hair and braces. Sometimes the eyes are brown or green or even gold. Whatever they think I look like. In conclusion the Republic doesn't actually know what I look like. They don't know _anything_ about me really despite the fact that I'm young and that whenever they run my fingerprints they cannot find a match in their database. That's why they hate me. That's why I'm their most dangerous criminal. I make them look bad.

It's early into the afternoon but it's already dark outside, and I can see the reflection of the Jumbo Tron in the street puddles. I climb up to the ledge of the third story window of the building. That's another reason why they can't catch me, I can climb buildings faster than most of them can grab at their guns. The building was abandoned quite a few years ago and its obvious, the windows were busted leaving glass shards on the floor and the wallpaper is peeling way more than I think walls should peel. There's an old portrait of Dictator Rhea on the floor. I wonder who was brave enough to leave a portrait of Rhea discarded on the floor.

My hair was in a ponytail and tucked under my old baseball cap per usual. The one story house down the road caught my attention. Nia was leaning on the room's other window watching my every move, she can sense how restless I am tonight. The plague hit National City hard. Under the glow of the JumboTron I can see soldiers in their shiny black gear as they inspect every home. Dressed like Darth Vader, with a similar personality as well. Often when they exit the house they would mark a house and paint a big red X on the front door. It meant that no one could leave and no one could enter the house. 

"Still don't see them?" Nia whispers. Her face was concealed by shadows. To try to distract myself I'm putting together a homemade slingshot out of old copper and rubber. 

"They haven't eaten dinner. They haven't sat down by the table in hours." 

"Maybe they aren't home?" I know she's trying to cheer me up but I really am not in the mood for her optimism. "A candle is lit. Look at the candles. Eliza would never waste good candles if no one was home." Nia moves closer to my window to get a better view. 

"How about we leave the city for a couple weeks, okay?" I could tell she was nervous, she had fear in her voice despite trying to seem calm. "Soon the plague will have blown through, and you can come back to visit, we already have more than enough money for two train tickets."

I shake my head. "One night a week Nia, remember? Just let me check on them one night a week, please."

Nia huffed but understood. "Yeah. You've been coming here every night this week, Kara."

"Do not use my name against me and I just want to make sure Eliza and Alex are okay." 

"I refuse to call you Supergirl but what if you get sick."

“Well you can leave to Central City without me then.” I knew Nia would never leave me no matter what despite her being as smart and resourceful as me. It would actually be better for her if she went her own way I mean she’s not the one that’s wanted by the Republic, I am.   
  


“No way, I have to watch over you and make sure you don’t get in too much trouble.” Despite Nia being two years younger she often acted like she was my guardian.   
  


“Well you’ve already done a bad job at keeping me out of trouble seeing as I’m Americas most wanted.” We both look up as the soldiers draw closer to my adopted family's home. Each time they knock on a home, one soldier pounds on the door while a second guard stands next to him with gun drawn. If within ten seconds no one answers the soldier kicks the door in. I can't see them once they rush inside but I know the drill- a soldier will draw a blood sample from each family member then plug it into a handheld reader and check for the plague. The whole process takes about ten minutes only. 

I count the houses between where the soldiers are now and where my adopted family lives. I'll have to wait another hour before they get to them. A shriek echoes from the other end of the street, my eyes dart toward the sound and my hand whips to the knife sheathed at my belt.

Nia sucks in a breath, we both know it's a victim of the plague. She had to have been sick for months, because her skin is cracked and bleeding everywhere, and I find myself wondering how the soldiers didn't notice this during the last inspections. She stumbles a bit and its obvious that she's disoriented she stumbles forward only to fall to her knees. I look back at the soldiers as one with a drawn weapon approaches and lifts his gun and aims. Sparks engulf the infected woman. She collapses and then goes still.

I've always to get my hands on at least one of those soldiers' guns. A pretty gun like that doesn't really cost much on the market- about 480 Notes which is less than a stove. Like all guns it has precision and can accurately shoot a target from three blocks away. Jeremiah once told me that it was tech stolen from the Colonies. The Republic would never tell you that though of course. Nia and I could buy about five of them if we wanted to. As the years went by we learned to say our money for emergencies.

But the biggest flaw with having a gun is that it's quite easy to track back to you. Each gun has a sensor on it that reports its users hand shape, thumbprints and location. If that didn't give me away nothing would. So I'm left with my homemade weapons.

"Look they found another one." Nia points out. She squints to get a better look. I look down to see soldiers spray painting an X on the door. I know that house. Alex and I used to play with the little girl around my age when we were younger. In an attempt to distract me Tess nods at the cloth bundle near my feet. "What did you bring them?"

I smile and bend down to untie the cloth. "Some of it is stuff we saved up this week. It'll be for a great celebration once they pass inspection." I dig through the pile of goodies inside the bundle, then hold up a used pair of goggles I check them again to make sure they aren't cracked. "For Alex, an early birthday gift." My foster sister turns nineteen later this week. She works fourteen hour shifts in the neighborhood plant's friction stoves and always comes home rubbing her eyes from the smoke. These goggles were a lucky steal from a military supply shipment. The rest of the stuff is mostly cans of meat and potatoes I stile from an airship café and a pair of shoes with intact soles. 

I wish I could be in the room with them when I give them the stuff. But Jeremiah is the only one that knows I'm alive and he promised not to tell Alex or Eliza. I had a cousin he would have been ten in two months and have to take the Trials but he died along with my birth family. I failed my own Trials when I was ten. I felt so unsure of my own answers that I didn't bother to watch them grade it. But then they ushered me in a room of the trials stadium with a few other kids. They marked my test and stuffed me on a train downtown. I didn't even get to say goodbye.

Several things could happen after you take the Trial. You get a perfect score- 1500 points. No one's ever gotten this- well except for some kid a few years ago who the military made a fuss over. ( This is very important information. Remember that some smart ass got 1500 points you can probably guess who it is) Someone with a score that high probably has a lot of money and power. If you get a score between 1450 and 1499 you get instant access to six years of high school and then four at the top universities in the Republic. Then Congress hires you and give you lots of money, according to the Republic lots of joy and happiness follows but I doubt anyone would be happy with such a boring life.

A good score is between 1250 and 1449 you still go to highschool and then college. A score of 1000-1249 Congress takes you from highschool and you join the poor, like my adopted family. You'll probably die from working too hard. If you fail the Republic sends officials to your home and they make your parents sign a contract giving the government full custody over you. They say that you've been sent to a labor camp and your parents have to comply and the Republic often gives some families one thousand Notes. But that's a lie, an inferior child with bad genes is of no use to the Republic, you will either die or be tested on. 

Five houses remain before the soldiers get to my adopted family's house. Nia sees how anxious I am and looks at me with worry in her eyes. "One of your panic attacks coming on?"

"No, I'm fine." I look out the window to see Eliza's house, then catch a glimpse of a familiar face. Alex walks by, then looks out the window at the approaching soldiers. Her hair shines a weird red in the light, she must have dyed her hair red and she apparently cut it as well. 

"She looks thinner." I mutter.

"Well she's alive and walking around, she's a big girl she can take care of herself." Nia replies. "I would take that as a win." I see Jeremiah, Eliza and Alex deep in conversation minutes later. Eliza looks more stressed and her blonde hair looks a bit more silver. Jeremiah is also looking quite stressed, his already grey hair was silver with black streaks. At least all three of them are healthy enough to walk. Even if one of them is infected, its early enough that they still might have a chance to recover.

I can't imagine how I'll react if the soldier mark my mother's door. My mind wanders to the stash of stolen money that Tess and I have hidden. Twenty-five hundred Notes. Enough to feed up for months but not close to enough to buy my family vials of plague medicine. The minutes drag on.

And then the time comes, I lean forward on the ledge, so far that Nia grips my arm to make sure I don't fall out the window. The soldiers pound on the door. The sooner this is all over, the sooner I can sneak my gifts to Jeremiah. The silence drags on. I count off the seconds in my head. One minute passes, Then two, then four, and then finally, ten minutes. Then fifteen minutes. Twenty. I look over at Nia, she just shrugs.

"Maybe their reader is broken." I don't dare move from my vigil. My fingers tap against the hilt of my knife. Forty minutes. An hour. "Something is wrong" I whisper.

"You don't know that"

"Yes I do. What could possibly take this long." Nia opens her mouth to reply, but before she can say anything, the soldier s are exiting, single file expressionless. Finally the soldier shuts the door behind him and reaches for the spray can at his waist. I suddenly feel sick, dizzy I know what happens next. 

The soldier reaches up and sprays one long red diagonal line on the door, then another line making an X. But then he does something I've never expected or seen before, he sprays a third, vertical line on my mothers door cutting the X in half.

**Lena**

I'm sitting in my dean secretary's office. again. On the other side of the frosted glass door, I can see a bunch of my classmates (seniors, all at least four years older than me) hanging around in an attempt to hear what's going on. Several of them saw me being yanked out after-noon drill classes. And whatever happens, the news spreads all over campus. The Republic's favorite little prodigy is in trouble again. I have memorized every detail of this room (marble floors, a portrait of the dean next to the portrait of Elector Rhea. Wooden desks made of birch wood.) John Jones, the dean secretary himself, is seated behind his desk, tapping on its glass- no doubt typing up my report. This will be my eighth report this quarter. I'm willing to bet I'm the only NCU student who's ever managed to get eight reports in one quarter without being expelled.

"Injured your hand yesterday, Mr. Jones?" I ask after a while.

"Yes, Ms. Luthor. I twisted my wrist yesterday in a game of volleyball."

"Sorry to hear it. You should try to be more careful when serving the ball." It was a simple tip or observation. It was a fact but it sounded sort of taunting and doesn't seem to have brighten up his mood."Ms. Luthor you may think you're smart and that your perfect grades will earn you special treatment. but I'm getting tired of our meetings in my office. And when you get a real job your superiors will not appreciate your antics. Do you understand me?"

I nod because I know that's what he wants but deep down I don't just think I'm smart, I am the only person in the entire Republic to get a perfect 1500 on my Trials (Yes Lena is the kid that got 1500 but keep this information locked up for later on in the story.) I have earned perfect grades here at NCU for three years, I am smart. I have what the Republic considers good genes- and better genes make for good soldiers which make for a better chance of victory against the Colonies according to my professors.

And if I felt my afternoon drills aren't teaching me enough about how to climb walls why carrying weapons, then it isn't my fault I had to scale the side of a twenty story building with a gun on my back. It's called self improvement. Rumor has it that Supergirl scaled five stories in less than eight seconds. If the Republics most wanted criminal can pull that off then how are we ever going to catch her if we aren't faster.

And if we can catch a teenage girl how are we going to win the war? Mr. Jones' desk beeps four times. He holds down a button "Yes"

Captain Lex Luthor is outside the gate, he's here for his sister"

"Good send him in" He releases the button and points at me. "I hope your brother starts to do a better job at keeping you in line because if you end up in my office another time this quarter-"

"He's doing a better job than our dead parents." I reply slightly colder and sharper than I intended but we fall into an uncomfortable silence until I hear commotion out in the hall.

I can see a few girls swoon as Lex walks by but he fixes his eyes on me. We both have the same eyes, green with a bluish ring, the same midnight black, slightly curled hair and long eyelashes. It looks like he abandoned his patrol duties to come straight to campus, he's in his full uniform. My eyes meet his. He's furious. Mr. Jones gives Lex a bright smile as if he didn't just question my brothers ability to take care of me. "Ah, Captain. It's a pleasure to see you."

Lex taps the edge of his hat in his a polite salute. "It's unfortunate it's under these circumstances. Again. My apologies." He replies

"Not a problem, Captain." Mr. Jones waves dismissively, he's so fake it's unreal. "It isn't your fault that your sister was caught scaling a building, going off campus to do it. As you should know climbing walls on campus and leaving the campus during the middle of the day is strictly forbidden-"

"Yes, I am aware of that." Lex interrupts, looking at me from the corner of his eye. "I saw the helicopters over NCU in the afternoon and had a hunch that Lena might have been involved." There were three helicopters. They couldn't get me off by scaling it so they used a net. "Thank you for your help." He snaps his fingers at me signaling me to stand up. "Lena will be on her best behavior when she returns to campus."

I ignore Mr. Jones' false smile as I follow Lex out of the office. Students immediately hurry over. "Lena" a boy named Maxwell says as he tas alongside us. He'd asked me (unsuccessfully) to the NCU ball two years in a row. "Is it true? How high did you get?"

Lex cuts him off with a harsh glare. "Lena is heading home." He places a hand on my shoulder and leads me away from my classmates. I glance back at them a manage to smile. "Fourteen floors" I call back. Somehow this is the closest relationship I have with the other students I'm respected and gossiped about yet no one really talks to me. But I am a seventeen year old senior in a university meant for eighteen and up. 

Lex doesn't say anything else as we make our way out the building and off campus. By the time we reach one of NCUs outer streets and I climb into the backseat of our waiting military jeep, Lex can barely contain his anger. "Suspended for a week? Care to explain this to me?" He demands. "I get back from a morning of dealing of dealing with the Patriot rebels and what do I hear about? Helicopters two blocks from NCU. A girl scaling a skyscraper."

I exchange a friendly look with Eve, the soldier in the drivers seat. "Sorry" I mutter.

Lex turns around from his place in the passenger seat and narrows his eyes at me. "What were you thinking Lena? Did you know you wandered off campus?"

"Yes." I sink lower and lower into my seat in the back.

"Of course. You are seventeen. You went fourteen floors up a- god Lena I was really worried about you." He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and steadies himself. I try to meet Eve's eyes again in the rearview mirror, but she keeps her eyes on the road. Of course, I shouldn't expect any help from her. She loos as tidy as ever, with her perfectly curled hair and perfect posture and perfectly ironed uniform. Eve might be younger than Lex and a subordinate on his patrol but she's more disciplined than anyone I know. Sometimes I wish I was more like her. She probably disapproves of my behavior more than Lex. 

We leave downtown National City behind and travel the highway in silence. After a few minutes, Lex speaks again in a calmer voice. "You really scared me today , I was afraid they would mistake you for Supergirl and shoot at you." he says.

I know it isn't meant as a compliment, but I can't help but smile. I rest my arms on the top of his seat. "Hey, I'm sorry I made you worry." 

He lets out a small chuckle and I can tell his anger is already dissipating. "Yeah. That's what you say every time, Lena."

"Well....maybe if you took me along on some of your missions, I'd probably learn a lot more and stay out of trouble."

"Nice try but you aren't going anywhere until you graduate and get assigned your own patrol." I bit my tongue. Lex picked me once for a mission last year, during third year NCU students had to shadow an assigned military branch. His commander sent him to kill a prisoner of war from the Colonies. I tracked the prisoner to an alley in Yellowstone City, Montana and Lex shot him.

During the chase I got a knife in the leg and three broken ribs, now Lex refuses to take me anywhere. When Lex speaks again he sounds grudgingly curious. "So tell me. How fast did you climb those fourteen stories?" Eve makes a disapproving sound in her throat, but I break into a grin.

"Six minutes. And forty four seconds. How's that." 

"That must be some sort of record."

Eve stops the jeep right behind the lines at a red light and gives Lex an exasperated look. "Come on Captain, Lena- Ms. Luthor won't learn a thing if you keep praising her for breaking the rules." she says

"Cheer up, Eve." Lex reaches over and claps her on the back. "Surely breaking a rule once in a while is tolerable, especially if you're doing it to beef up your skills for the Republic's sake. Victory against the Colonies. Right?"

The light blinks green. Eve sighs and turns her eyes back to the road. "Right. You should still be careful what you're encouraging Ms. Luthor to do especially since your parents are gone."

Lex's mouth tightens into a line with a strained look in his eyes. No matter how sharp my intuition is no matter how well I do at NCU and how quick I can scale buildings I can never get rid of that fear that Lex has in his eyes. He's afraid something might happen to me someday. The fear never leaves his face. 

I don't remember our parents like Lex does. When I cry about them I cry about having no memory of them. The rest of my memories and accomplishments are with Lex. We drive through a few poor blocks. Finally we reach the gleaming, terraced high rises of Reign, and we're home. Lex gets out first, as I follow Eve gives me a small smile. "See you later, Ms. Luthor." 

I stopped trying to convince her to call me Lena- she'll never change. But its not so bad being called something proper. "Bye Eve, thanks for the ride." I smile baclk at her before steeping out the jeep.

Lex waits until the door is shut before turning to me and lowering his voice. "I'll be home later tonight" he says "Don't go out alone. News from the warfront is they're cutting power to residences tonight to save energy for the airfield bases, so stay put okay?" My heart sinks. I wish the Republic would hurry up and win the war so that we might get a whole month of nonstop electricity. 

"Where are you going? Can I come?" 

"I'm overseeing the lab at National City Central. They're delivering vials of some mutated virus there it should take all night. And no. I already told you no missions. He puts his hands on my shoulder and pulls me in for a hug. "Love you, Lena." he says. He turns to climb back into the jeep. The jeep is already pulling off.

"Be careful." I whisper. But it's pointless now Lex is too far away to hear me....

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	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara goes on a dangerous mission after seeing the soldiers mark Eliza's door she needs to get past a building full of soldiers in order to get a cure for her foster family. Lena gets some troubling news about her last living relative and makes Supergirl her number one enemy.

**Kara**

When I was seven my biological father came home from the war front for a weeks leave. His job was to clean up after the soldiers so he was usually off working and I was usually sent to my aunts house or the Danvers house. My mother died while giving birth to me. One day he came home from work and that was the day the soldiers did an inspection. The soldiers dragged my father to the local police station. 

They claimed they found something suspicious. When my father came home that night he had two broken arms and bloodied face. Several nights later I dipped ball of ice into a can of gasoline and lit it. Then I launched it through the window of our local police headquarters. They never found out who did it and I never came forward. That was my first perfect crime. 

My aunt said she always hoped that I would get famous because that something my mother would have wanted. I guess they both got their wish but I doubt they expected me to or wanted me to have this type of fame. 

Its nighttime again, a good forty eight hours after the soldiers marked Eliza's door. I linger in the shadows of a back alley one block from the National City Center Hospital (sound familiar?) and watch it's staff rush in and out of the main entrance. Electric lights shine from each floor- a luxury only government buildings and the elite's homes can afford. Military jeeps line down the street as they wait for their IDs to get checked. 

I keep still, my eyes fixed on the entrance. I look pretty good though. I'm wearing boots that I got for only 150 Notes, they're made of dark leather which got soft over time, with strong soles and laces. I've hidden a knife against the sole of each boot. My black cargo pants are tucked into my boots and I carry a pair of gloves. 

My hair is out of its ponytail and past my shoulders but I've spray painted it black and shiny, looking almost as if I dipped it in oil. Nia also traded five Notes for a bucket of pigs blood that I've covered on the exposed parts of my body. The hospital spans the first twelve floors but I'm only interested in the third floor, the floor without windows.

The third floor is where the lab is, where they keep blood samples and medicine. From the outside the third floor is completely hidden by Republic flags and convenient carvings. Behind the façade lies a floor with no halls and no doors. Just a room full of doctors and nurses and test tubes, I only know this because this is the lab that they took me to when I failed my Trials. 

The day I was supposed to die. I guess Kara Danvers technically did die that die. My eyes scan the side of the building. Sometimes I can break in from the outside if there's a balcony. Unluckily for me the tower is too smooth and I have to get to the lab from inside. I kinda wish I asked Nia to come along but we both know two rebels are easier to catch than one. 

Besides its not her family that needs medicine. A lone medic truck pulls up behind the military jeeps. Several soldiers climb out and greet the nurses. the leader is a young, black haired man dressed in all black, except for two rows of silver buttons that line his jacket. I strain to hear what he's saying to the other soldiers and nurses.

"-from around the lake's edge." The man tightens his gloves. I catch a glimpse of his gun at his belt. "My men will be at the entrances tonight."

"Yes, Captain." the nurse says.

The man tips his cap to her. "My name is Alexander or Lex, If you have any questions, come see me."

I wait until the soldiers have spread out around the perimeter of the building and the man named Alexander has immersed himself in conversation with two of his men. Several more medic trucks come and go, dropping off severely injured soldiers. 

I take a deep breath, then step out of the shadows and stumble towards the hospital entrance. A nurse spots me first just outside the main doors, her eyes dart to the blood on my arms and face. "Can I be admitted madam? Is there still room tonight. I can pay." I wince in imaginary pain. She looks at me without pity and looks back down at her notepad to scribble something. I guess she doesn't appreciate being called madam.

"What happened" she asks.

  
"Was in a fight. I think I got stabbed." I double over when I reach her and lean on my knees. The nurse doesn't look up at me again. She finishes writing and then nods at one of the guards.

"Pat her down." I stay where I am as two soldiers check me for weapons. I yelp on cue as they touch my arms and stomach. I try to resist the urge to punch them both when the second soldier gets a little too touchy. Luckily they don't find the knives tucked in my boots, but they do take the little pouch of Notes tied to my belt as payment for entering the hospital.

If I was a giddy rich girl, I'd be admitted free of charge or they'd send doctors for free straight up to where I live. When a soldier gives the nurse a thumbs up, she points me towards the entrance. "Waiting room's on the left. Have a seat." I thank her and stumble towards the sliding doors.

The man named Alexander watches me as I pass. He's listening patiently to one of his soldiers, but I see him study my face as if out of habit. I make a mental note of his face as well. 

The hospital is ghostly white on the inside. To my left I see a waiting room, just like the nurse said, a huge space packed with people sporting injuries of all shapes and sizes. Many of them moan in pain- one person is lying on the floor unmoving.

I note where all the soldiers are standing- two by the secretary window, two by the doctor's door far in the distance, several near the elevators each wearing ID tags- and then I drop my eyes to the floor. I shuffle to a nearby chair and sit. For once my bad knee helps my disguise.

I count ten minutes off in my head, long enough so that new patients have arrived in the waiting room and the soldiers are less interested in me. I stand up and stumble, lurching toward the nearest soldier. His hand moves to his gun out of reflex. "Sit back down." he says. 

I trip and fall against him," I really the bathroom, mister." I whisper, my voice hoarse. My hands tremble as I grab his robes for balance. The soldier looks at me with disgust while others snicker. I see his fingers inch closer to his gun's trigger, but one of the soldiers shakes his head. These soldiers are way too trigger happy to be in a hospital. 

"Over there." he snaps "Wipe some of that filth off your face and if you touch me again, I'll fill you with bullets." I release him and nearly fall to my knees. Hopefully my whole act was believable enough. I can feel the soldiers' eyes on me as I enter the bathroom and lock the door.

They'll forget about me in a few minutes. And it'll take longer before the soldier I grabbed to realize his ID is missing.

I scrub water on my face until most of the pigs blood has come off. I unzip my boots and tear open the soles to reveal my knives and tuck them into my belt. I out my boots back on and pull my hair back into a ponytail and tuck my buttoned shirt up. I tie the handkerchief around my nose and mouth. Might as well hide my face.

When I finish, I use the tip of my knife to unscrew the cover of the bathroom's ventilation shaft. Then I take out the soldiers' ID tag and clip it to my necklace and stuff myself into the shafts tunnel. I inch along as fast as I can. The shaft can't be more than two feet wide in any direction, sometimes I have to stop, breath and remind myself that the walls aren't closing in on me. 

I don't have to go far, none of these shafts will lead to the third floor. I only need to get close enough to one of the stairways. I think about Alex and the medicine her, Jeremiah and Eliza will need, and the straight red X with the line through it. 

After several minutes the shaft dead ends. I look through the vent and I can see the corner of a curved stairwell. The floor is an immaculate white and more importantly, empty. I give the shaft cover a mighty shove. The cover flies off. 

Now I'm running with all speed and no stealth. I run up the stairs. The security camera has to be focused on me. The alarm will sound any minute. Second floor. Third floor. I tear my tag off as I reach the third floor and swipe it along the doors, the cameras have yet to trigger the alarm and lock the stairwell. The door opens to a huge room full of gurneys and chemicals boiling under metal hoods.

Both doctors and soldiers look up at me with startled faces. I grab the first person I see, a young doctor close to the door. Before any of the soldiers can aim a gun in our direction, I whip out one of my knives and hold it close to the man's throat. Everyone else in the room freezes.

"Shoot, and you'll hit him instead." I call out to the soldiers slightly muffled under my handkerchief. I press the knife harder against his neck, careful not to draw any blood. "I wont hurt you," I whisper in his ear. "Just tell me where to get the plague cures."

He lets out a strangled whisper and I can feel him sweating. He gestures toward the refrigerators. The soldiers are still hesitating but one calls out to me. "Release the doctor!" he shouts. :"Put your hands up."

I want to laugh. The soldier must be new. I cross the room with the doctor and stop at the refrigerators. "Show me." The doctor lifts a trembling hand and pulls the fridge door open. 

"There" he whispers. I turn away from the soldiers long enough to see the doctor point at the top shelf in the fridge. All the vials are empty. I curse under my breath. They only have plague suppressants and painkillers. 

"I'm letting go." I whisper to the doctor. "Duck." I release my grip and shove him hard enough that he falls to the ground. The soldiers open fire, but I'm ready-I hide behind the open fridge as bullets ricochet off of it. I grab several bottles of suppressants and painkillers and shove them into my shirt. I run to the stairway, one of the stray bullets hit me and I feel pain shoot up my arm. 

An alarm goes off and there's a series of clicks as all the doors lock from the inside. I'm trapped. The soldiers can come in but I can't leave. A voice from inside the laboratory yells "She's been hit!" 

My eyes look up to the tiny windows in the stairwells plaster walls. They're too far away for me to reach from the stairs themselves. I grit my teeth and pull out my second knife so that I now have one in each hand. I stab one knife into the plaster, my wounded arm gushes blood and I bite my lip to stop myself from screaming. The plaster is giving way, I'm halfway there.

I hear the lab door burst open and soldiers spill out. Bullets spark all around me. I swing toward the window and let go of the knife in the wall. The window shatters and I'm suddenly falling while I brace myself for landing hoping I don't injure myself more. I four times and crash into the wall on the other side of the street. I can hear furious voices from the third floor. Everything aches and I'm very aware of the pain my side and arm. 

The adrenaline is keeping me from falling where I stand. I limp to the shadows. I look over my shoulder and see a group of soldiers rush to where I had fallen and point out the broken glass and blood, including the young man named Alexander. He orders his men to spread out. I need to find a sewer cover.   
  


The edges of my vision are blurring now, I put my hand to my ear to check for blood. nothing. That's a good sign. I spot a sewer cover and rush to bend down and lift the cover.

"Freeze. Stay where you are." I whirl around to see Alexander, the young captain from the hospital's entrance, facing me. He has a gun pointed straight at my chest but to my surprise he doesn't shoot. Something changes in his eyes, I can tell he recognizes me as the girl that pretended to stagger into the hospital. Alexander narrows his eyes. "Hands up. You are under arrest for theft, vandalism, and trespassing."

"You are not going to take me in alive."

"I'd be happy to take you dead if you prefer." What happens next is a blur. I see Alexander tense up to fire his gun. I throw my knife at him with all my strength. Before he can fire my knife hits him hard in the shoulder and he falls backward with a thud. I don't wait to see him get up.

I bend down and heave the sewer lid up and lower myself down the ladder and pull the cover back in place. My injuries are catching up to me now and I feel my limbs protest as I try to move forward. I stumble through the sewers, my vision going in and out of focus. I must have cracked a rib. I'm alert enough to think about which way would lead me to the Lake sector where Nia would find me. I believe I can hear the rumble of footsteps overhead. 

They had to have found Alexander by now. Behind me I hear splashes and the sounds of echoing voices. I take more turns, the voices get a little closer. The footsteps sound farther away now. When I see a ladder leading to the surface I take my chances and pull myself up. I'm very close to fainting now. I can see a Union Station several blocks away. Tess will be there, waiting for me.

Three more blocks. Two more blocks. One. I can't hold on any longer. I find a dark spot in the alley to collapse. The last thing I see is the silhouette of a girl off in the distance, maybe she's walking towards me. I notice that my pendant is no longer looped around my neck. My mothers pendant.

**Lena**

_I still remember when my brother missed his induction ceremony into the Republic military. It was a Sunday after noon. Hot and sticky. I was nine years old, and Lex was nineteen. My golden retriever puppy, Krypto, was asleep on our apartment's cool marble floor. I lay feverishly in bed while Lex sat by my side, his brow furrowed with worry. We could hear the speakers outside playing the Republics national pledge._

_When they got to the part mentioning our president, Lex stood and saluted in the direction of the capital. Our illustrious Elector Rhea had just accepted another four year presidential term._

_"You don't have to sit here with me, you know." I said to him after the pledge finished. "Go to your induction. I'll be sick either way." Lex ignored me and placed another cool towel on my head._

_"I'll be inducted either way." he said. He fed me a purple slice of orange._

_"But it's Commander Edge." I blinked through swollen eyes. "He did you a favor by not assigning you to the war front...he'll be upset you're skipping. Wont she mark it on your record? You don't want to be kicked out like some street con."_

_Lex tapped my hand disapprovingly. "Don't call people that Lena. It's rude. And he can't kick me off his patrol for missing the ceremony. Besides." he winks at me. "I can always hack into their database and wipe my record clean." I grinned. I wanted to be inducted into the Republic's military too._

_Maybe I'd even be lucky enough to get assigned to a renowned commander like Lex did. "You should skip going to the Batalla more often. Maybe you'd have more time to get a girlfriend."_

_Lex laughed like the idea was ridiculous. "I don't need girlfriends. I've a got a baby sister to take care of."_

_"Come on. You're going to get a girlfriend someday." Lex laughs again and ruffles my hair._

_"We'll see. Guess I'm picky like that." I stop to look at my brother directly in the eyes._

_"Lex, did our mother take care of me when I was sick? Did she do things like this." Lex reached over to push sweaty strands of hair away from my face. "Don't be stupid Lena. of course mom took care of you, and she was better than I am at it."_

_"You're not going to leave me too, are you? You'll stay with me longer than mom and dad did?" Lex kissed me on the forehead and gives me a sad smile._

_"Forever and ever, until you're sick of seeing me"_

_

I know somethin has gone wrong the instant Eve shows up at our door. The lights in all resident buildings have gone off, just as Lex had said they would, and nothing but candles light the apartment. Krypto is barking up a storm. I'm still dressed in my training uniform and a black and red vest with my boots laced and my hair tied in a tight ponytail.

For a moment, I'm relieved it isn't Lex at the door, he'd see my uniform and know I'm headed out to the track. Ignoring his orders. Again. When I open the door, Eve coughs nervously at the surprised look on my face and pretends to smile. There's a streak of black grease on her forehead. She was probably finishing polishing her rifle earlier and the patrol's inspection is most likely tomorrow.) 

I cross my arms. She touches the edge of her cap politely. "Hello, Ms. Luthor." she says.

I take a deep breath. "I'm heading out the track. Where's Lex." 

"Commander Edge has requested that you come with me to the hospital as soon as possible." Eve hesitates for a few. I can tell there's something she doesn't want to tell me. "Well it's more of an order than a request."

There's a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach," Why didn't she just call me? Where's my brother?" 

Eve takes a deep breath and I already know what's coming. "I'm sorry, Ms. Luthor. Lex has been killed." That's when the world around me goes silent, I can see Eve is still speaking, gesturing with her hands, pulling me into a hug."

She asks me to follow her and leads me out with an arm around my shoulder. Krypto follows me out, and I tell him to stay close. I lock the door and stuff the key in my pocket as Eve guides us through the darkness to the stairs. It's like my body is on autopilot while I try to process the information.

I stare at the distorted reflections of Ollie and me. I can't recognize my expression. I'm not sure I even have one. Lex should have taken me with him.

We reach the bottom floor of the building and Krypto jumps into the backseat and sticks his head out the window. The car smells damp, kinda like sweat. Lex should have taken me with him. I run this thought over and over again in my head, like a broken record. 

Eve occasionally shoots me a hesitant glance. The functioning part of me makes a mental note to apologize to her later. My eyes glaze over at the familiar buildings we pass. Workers pack the first floor stands even with the light out. Clouds of smoke float high in the distance. JumboTrons always on regardless of power outages.

The sky looks more overcast than usual, as if it's going to rainstorm. I pull my hood over my head for when we get out the car. The hospital tower looms just a few blocks away. As we draw near, I can see the crisscrossed line of yellow tape surrounding the bottom of the building.

"I'm guessing they didn't catch the person." I say to Eve. She seems to fidget some more, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"How do you know?" 

I nod toward the building. That's really something. Whoever it was survived a two and a half story jump and still had enough strength to escape." Eve looks toward the tower and squints to see what I see-the broken third floor stairwell window, the soldiers searching alleyways, the lack of ambulances. 

"We haven't caught the suspect. But that doesn't mean we won't find his body later." The rifle grease on her forehead gives her a bewildered look.

"You wont find it if you haven't found it yet." Eve opens her mouth to say something, but decides against it and looks back at the road. When the jeep pulls to a stop, Commander Edge breaks away from the group of guards he's standing with and approaches us.

"I'm sorry." Eve says abruptly to me. I feel bad for my coldness towards her. I want to ask her what she's apologizing for, she didn't kill Lex. Her father was a janitor for our apartment before he died, her late mother was a cook at my grade school. Lex had been the one to recommend Eve, who had a high Trial score. to be assigned to the city patrols.

Commander Edge raps twice on the window to get my attention. "Move it, Luthor. Time is of essence." His eyes flicker to Krypto in the backseat. "That's nopt a police dog, kid." Even now her demeanor is unflinching. I hop out the jeep and give him a quick salute.

"You called me, Commander?" I say. Commander Edge doesn't bother to return my gesture. He starts walking away as I'm forced to hurry to catch up with him.

"Your brother, Lex, is dead.: His tone doesn't change. "I'm of the understanding that you are almost done with your training as an agent, correct? That you have already finished your courses?" I struggle to breath, another confirmation of Lex's death.

"Yes Commander." I manage to say. We head into the hospital. 

"I've called ahead to NCU and told them that you are dismissed from further training. You were almost done anyway. I received a full history of yout grades there. Perfect scores. They also say you're a troublemaker. Is that true?"

"Sometimes, Commander. But I don't understand, am I in trouble? Did they expel me?" Commander Edge smiles. It's a cold smile that doesn't reach his eyes but a smile nonetheless. 

"Hardly. They have graduated you early. Now follow me, I have something for you to see." I want to ask about what happened here. About Lex. But his no nonsense attitude stops me.

We walk down the hall until we reach an emergency exit door. There, Commander Edge waves guards away and ushers me through. We are now outside. I realize that we are now inside the yellow tape. "Hurry up." Commander Edge snaps at me. 

I finally realize what she wants to show me, not far ahead is an object under a white sheet. A six feet long human, the limbs look intact and someone had to lay him out since he most likely didn't fall naturally like that. I start to tremble, then I'm forced to follow Commander Edge again. I think about his last words to me.

_"Forever and ever, kid. Until you're sick and tired of seeing me."_

Commander halts in front of the white sheet and throws it aside. I stare at the dead body, knife still protruding from his chest. Dark blood stains everywhere. His eyes are closed now.

"Tell me what might have happened here, cadet." Commander Edge demands. 

I don't even flinch from the sting of his words. "Whoever hit him was either very close or has an incredibly strong throwing arm. Right handed. Impressive aim. It looks like the knife is one of a pair, correct?"

Commander Edge nods so I continue. I look towards the dark alley that my brother's feet point to and notice the sewer cover several feet away. "That's where they made their getaway. They are also left handed. Interesting. They're ambidextrous. From here the sewers take you deeper into the city or west of the ocean. They probably chose the city especially if they're injured. Its impossible to track them now, they'll give us nothing to track."

"I'm going to leave you here so you can collect your thoughts. Meet me in two minutes in the third floor stairwell." He glances back at Lex's still body- for a brief second her face softens. "What a waste of a good soldier. I look down at my brother's face, surprisingly he looks peaceful. 

"You should have taken me with you." I whisper to him. I lean my head against his and begin to cry. In my mind, I make a promise to my brothers killer. 

I will hunt you down. I will scour the streets of National City. I will trick you and deceive you, lie, cheat and steal to find you, tempt you out of your hiding place and chase you until you have nowhere else to run. I make you this promise: your life is mine. Too soon, soldiers come to take Lex to the morgue.

I lie on the couch with my arm draped over Krypto. The spot where Lex usually sits is empty. A stack of all his journals were in a corner. "You cant trace or tag them online" he always said.

Was it just this afternoon that he picked me up from NCU? He wanted to talk to me about something important right before he left, but now I'll never know. Papers and reports cover the couch. One of my hands clutches a pendant necklace, a piece of evidence I've been studying for a while. I study its lack of patterns, its smooth surface.

My head hurts. Starting tomorrow, Eve is taking over Lex's position for the time being and I'm entering the patrol as a detective agent in training. My first tracking mission: Supergirl. 

"We've tried a variety of ways to catch her in the past, but none of them have worked." Edge told me before he sent me home. "Show me how you'd track Supergirl, maybe you'll get somewhere and maybe not. But you're a set of fresh young eyes and if you impress me, I'll promote you." I close my eyes and try to think. 

Supergirl killed my brother. I know this because we found an ID tag on the third floor and the soldier it belonged to stammered out a description of what the girl looked like. His description didn't match anything we have on her, but the truth it, we know little about what she looks like, except she's young, like the kid at the hospital tonight. The fingerprints are the same found at a crime scene last month linked to Supergirl.   
  


Supergirl was there and was careless enough to leave the ID tag behind. She had to be in a rush. This was a poorly thought out, last minute plan. And she only took suppressants and painkillers which means that someone she cares for must be sick. She surely isn't sick with the plague. It must be someone living in one of the poorer sectors that were recently infected with the plague. 

If that's true Supergirl wont be leaving the city anytime soon. She has a connection here. Or she could also have a sponsor who hired her to pull this stunt. But the hospital is dangerous, and a sponsor would have had to pay Supergirl a great deal of money. And if that much money was involved she would have most likely planned better. 

Besides Supergirl wasn't a mercenary in any of her past crimes. She's attacked the Republic's military assets on her own and slowed down shipments to warfront without any help. I doubt she's going to start now. Another possible sponsor is the Patriots but they would jump at the chance to draw their signature flag.

The biggest thing that doesn't make sense to me is, Supergirl has never killed anyone before. That's another reason I don't thin she's with the Patriots she doesn't attempt assassinations, she doesn't kill. So why Lex? Supergirl could have made her escape without killing him. I open my eyes, then lift my hand to study the pendant necklace again. 

It belongs to Supergirl- fingerprints tell us that much but its not from any religion I know, and its worth no real value which means it must be from someone special. Maybe even from the person she stole the plague medicine for. 

Supergirl's exploits used to fascinate me. But now she's my target-my first mission. I gather my thoughts for two more days until on the third day I call Commander Edge. I have a plan.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara is recovering from her last almost failed mission and hears an opportunity she cant pass up no matter how dangerous. Lena finds a way to lure Supergirl to her, still devoted to catching her brothers alleged killer. (Some characters wont show up until chapters later. Also supercorp finally meet the next chapter which is actually pretty short.)

**Kara**

_I'm dreaming that I'm home again. The Danvers offered to take me to their house to play with Alex. We're trying to fix an old radio Jeremiah gave her he said "It'll tell us which quarters have the plague." Now it sits lifeless in our laps. Eliza stands in the kitchen alone just looking at us with a smile. I think she was always lonely, she wanted more kids but didn't want a child to be tortured in this environment especially with the plague going around._

_After a while I lift my head to look out the window, soldiers are doing their routine inspections at least it looks like it. As I get a closer look I see the soldiers drag my father out the house. They light a match and as if in slow motion I see them throw the match on my home. There's no way my aunt, uncle and Clark all made it out of there safely. That's the day Kara Zorelle died._

I wake with a start. Dim streaks of light, gray and waning are filtering in through a nearby window. I hear a faint sound of rain. I'm in what looks like a child's abandoned bedroom. The wallpaper is blue and red and slightly peeling. Two candles light the room. When I shift, I let out a groan and close my eyes. 

Nia's voice drifts over to me. "Can you hear me?" she asks.

"Not so loud." My voice comes out in a whisper through dry lips. My heart throbs with blinding, stabbing headache. Nia recognizes the pain on my face and stays quiet while I keep my eyes closed and wait it out. After minutes my headache starts to fade. 

"Where are we? Are you all right?"

Nia's face comes into focus. "Am I all right?" she asks. "You've been knocked out for over two days. How are you feeling?" 

The pain hits me in waves, this time from the wounds that must cover me. "Fantastic."

Nia's smile fades. "You pulled a close one there-the closest one yet. If I hadn't found someone to take us in, I don't think you would have survived."

The medicine. I try to sit up, but move too fast and have to bite my lip from pain. My hand flies to my neck-my pendant is gone. My chest aches. I lost it. It's one of the last things I have from my parents and I lost it.

"Is my family okay? Did some of the medicine survive the fall?"

"Some of it." 

"I guess suppressants are better than nothing. I've dropped it off at Eliza's home already. I handed them all off to Jeremiah. He says to tell you thanks." 

"You didn't tell Jeremiah what happened, did you?"

Nia rolls her eyes. "I cant hide anything from Jeremiah, you know that. Everyone knows about it. They wont embarrass themselves by putting it on the JumboTron though. He's pretty angry you got hurt though."

"Whose house are we in?" As soon as I ask this question, I hear footsteps in the room next to ours. I look at Nia in alarm, she just nods at me and tells me to relax.

A man walks in, shaking dirty drops of rain from an umbrella. He carries a brown paper bag in his hands. "You're awake. That's goods." he says to me. He looks very pale and a bit chubby, with bushy eyebrows and kind eyes. "Do you think she can leave by tomorrow night?" he asks Nia.

"We'll be on our way by then." Nia picks up a bottle of a clear strong smelling liquid-alcohol-and wets the edge of the bandage with it. I flinch she touches it to where a bullet had grazed my arm. "Thank you again, sir, for letting us stay here."

The man grunts and awkwardly nods his head, looking around the room as if he lost something. "I'm afraid that's as long as I can keep you. Plague patrol's gonna do another sweep son." He hesitates. Then he pulls two cans from the bag and set them on the table. "Some chili for you. To fill you up." Before we can respond he rushes out the room.

"Why's he helping us?" I ask Nia in a low voice. 

"Don't be so suspicious, he's a nice guy. He had a son in the warfront. He died from the plague a few years ago."

When Nia finishes wrapping my bandages I lay my head back down on my pillow. Everything hurts all over. "I lost both my knives." I mutter so the man doesn't overhear. "They were good knives."

"Sorry to hear that Kara." Nia says, she most likely used my real name just incase the man was listening.

She holds a plastic bag with silver bullets inside. "I found these in the folds of your clothes and figured you might want them for a slingshot or something. I smile. When I first met Nia she was a small twelve year old orphan scared on the streets of the Nima sector. She used to need my help back then so much I forget how much I rely on her. She's like a sister to me. 

Sometimes I wish I could find her a good home, some kind family willing to take her in. But then I push it away, because Nia would be back under the control of the Republic, forced to take the Trial since she never took it before or even interrogated because of her affiliation with me. 

Besides, I'd miss her. The first few years I spent wandering on the streets by myself were lonely ones. I gingerly move my ankle in a circle. Its a little stiff but otherwise pretty painless-no torn muscles, no serious swelling. My bullet wound still burns and my ribs ache, but this time I'm strong enough to sit up without too much trouble. 

My hands immediately go to my hair to put it in a ponytail and grab my baseball cap to put over. I smell chili and bread. My stomach growls. I devour it all. I hear a door slam and Nia jumps up. Our caretaker hurries into the room. "You should leave now." he whispers. Sweat beads on his forehead. "I just heard about a man who's looking for you."

I stare at the man. Nia gives me an anxious look. "How do you know?" I ask.

The man starts cleaning up the room, most likely erasing any evidence that we were here. "He's telling people that he has plague cures for someone who needs it. He says he knows you're injured." 

I sit up straight and stand up. There's no choice now. "He's talking about me." Nia snatches a few clean bandages and stuffs them under her shirt. "It's a trap. We'll leave immediately." The man nods once.

"You can get out through the back door. Straight into the hall, on your left." I take a moment to meet his eyes. I realize he knows exactly who I am but he wont say it out loud. Like many others he doesn't exactly disapprove of the trouble I cause for the Republic. 

"We're very grateful." I say. He says nothing in response. I grab Nia's hand and pull her with me to the back exit. My eyes water from the pain of my wounds. We make it down silent back alleys for six blocks until we slow down.

My injuries are screaming now. I reach up to touch my pendant for comfort but then remember that it's no longer there. A million questions about what happened to it race around my head. Nia slumps to the ground and rest her head against the alley mall. "We need to leave the city. Its too dangerous here, Supes. You know it is, Midvale or Smallville would be safer." 

"Yeah...I know. I want to leave too."

"But you wont I can see it in your face." We're silent for a while. If it were up to me, I'd cross the whole country alone and escape into the colonies first chance I got. I don't mind risking my own life. But there are dozens of reasons I can't go and Nia knows that. Jeremiah and Eliza can't just quit their jobs. And Alex has always wanted to be in medical work or in the military. They'd be fugitives like me. 

"We'll see," I finally say. Nia gives me a pained smile. `

"What are you gonna do about the man offering cures?" she asks after a while.

I shrug. My bullet wound began to throb, and I lean against the wall for support. "I'm kind of curious what he has to say. What if he does have plague cures?"

Nia stares at me. It's the same look she gave me when I met her-hopeful, curious, and fearful all at once. "Well...can't be more dangerous than your hospital break-in, yeah?"

**Lena**

I can't tell if it's because Commander Edge has taken pity on me, or if he really does feel the loss of Lex, one of his most valued soldier, but he helps me arrange his funeral-even though she's never done this for any of his soldiers. He refuses to say anything about why he chose to do it. 

Wealthy families like ours always have elaborate funerals-Lex's takes place inside a building with soaring baroque archways and stained glass windows. The only colors come from the Republic flags and circular gold Republic seal hanging behind the room's front altar, the portrait of our glorious Elector Rhea looming above them all.

The hairdresser left my hair down, slightly curled at the ends. My neck is bare of any jewelry, my eyelids are coated with glittering white eyeshadow, my white dress reaches my knees and is a tad bit too tight for my liking but I'm able to cover it up with a white cardigan. Everything about me is stripped of color. Just like Lex was stripped from my life.

Lex once told me that it wasn't always this way, that only after the floods and volcanic eruptions, after the Republic built a barrier along the warfront to keep the Colonies from fleeing into our country illegally, did people start mourning for the dead by wearing white. 

"After the first eruptions." he said, "White volcanic ash rained from the sky for months, covering the dead and dying. So now we wear white to remember the dead." He told me this because I'd asked what our parents funeral was like. 

Now I wander among the guests, lost and aimless, responding to sympathetic words. I recognize some of Lex's old professors, fellow soldiers and soldiers. There are even some of my classmates from NCU. 

One of them take my hand and shakes their heads, "First your parents and now your brother. I can't imagine how hard it is for you." _No you can't_ I think. But I smile graciously and bow my head.

"Thank you for coming," I say. "It means a lot. I know Lex would be proud that he gave his life for his country." I see a few other people looking at me with pity. I'm not used to this much attention all at once with such a large group of people, I don't like it. Especially since none of them knew Lex, at least not like I do. like I did. 

After a while I sit at a table near the front of the room, facing the flower-strewn altar that'll soon be occupied with a line of people reading their eulogies to my brother. I bow my head respectfully to the Republic flags. 

"You look lovely tonight, Lena." I glance over to see Eve bow, then take a seat beside me. She exchanged her military clothes for an elegant white dress. I can tell it's branded, must've cost her a fortune. 

"Thanks, you too." She smiles and looks like she wants to say more but decides against it and turns her eyes away. 

It takes a half hour for everyone to find their seats and another half hour for the waiters to start arriving with plates of food. I don't eat anything. Commander Edge sits opposite me on the far side of the table. Between him and Eve are three of my NCU classmates. 

On my left is a man named Hank whom who organizes and oversees all Trials taken in Nation City. He was Lex's mentor before he joined Commander Edge's squad. Lex hated him. 

"How are you feeling, dear?" he asks. His words distort the scars on his face-a slice across the bridge on his nose, and another jagged mark that goes from his ear to the bottom of his chin. 

I manage a smile. "Better than expected." 

"I loved your brother very much, you know." he continues with overdone sympathy. "I remember him as a kid-you should have seen him. He was destined to enter our squads." 

"Thank you, sir," I say. 

I block out the rest of what he's saying like I've done with most conversations today. While some people are being genuine others just want to kiss his ass now that he's dead. Hank is one of those people. He stops speaking and grins at me. I don't know what he just said or asked so I just nod.

Hank made me take the Trial twice because I got a perfect score in record time. One hour and ten minutes. He thought I cheated. Not only do I have the only perfect score in the nation-I'm probably also the only kid who has taken the Trial twice. 

"I'm personally devastated by the way he died." he says. "At the hands of that nasty girl. What a shame! I was so pleased when Commander Edge told me that you'd be tracking him."

I hate him with a passion. Finally the man turns away from me to answer a question from a man on the other side. Eve leans towards me. "Hank has a personal grudge against Supergirl." she whispers.

"Is that so?" I whisper back

"Who do you think gave him that scar?" 

_Supergirl did?_ I can't keep the surprise from my face. Hank is a rather large man and is a skilled official. A teenage girl wounded him like that and got away? I study the scar, its a clean cut that must've happened quickly, I doubt Hank would hold still while being cut like that. For a moment I'm on Supergirl's side. I stare up at the Commander who stares at me as if he can read my thoughts. 

"Hey, Supergirl can't hide from the government forever-sooner or later we'll catch that street rat and make an example of her. She's no match for you." She kind of reminds me of Lex in a way. I look away from Eve and towards the altar, so she doesn't see the tear in my eyes. I can't smile back I don't think I'll ever smile again. 

"Lets get this over with," I whisper. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I combined this chapter with another which is probably why it took longer, technically supercorp meet but not quite face-to-face but they meet face-to-face next chapter, I hope you're liking this so far, seriously.

**Kara**

It's extremely hot even this late in the afternoon. I limp through the streets along the rim of Alta and Winter sector, along the lake and out in the open, lost in the crowded shuffle of other people. My wounds are still healing. I wear the army trousers our caretaker gave me with a thin collared shirt Nia found in a garbage bin. My cap is pulled low and I've added an eyepatch to my disguise. Its not unusual on this side of town. 

Today I'm on my own-Nia is keeping a low profile several streets down. Never any reason to risk both of us if you don't have to. Everyone stops in the streets and goes still as the pledge starts.

_"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Republic of America, to our Elector Rhea, to our glorious states, to unify against the Colonies, to our impending victory!"_

When the Elector Rhea's name comes on, we salute toward the capital. I mumble the pledge under my breath, but stay silent the last two sentences when the street police aren't looking. I wonder what our pledge was like before we went to war with the Colonies. When the pledge ends, life resumes.

I go to a Chinese themed bar covered in graffiti. The attendant gives me a smile that's missing a few teeth and ushers me in. "We have real Tsingtao beer today." he murmurs. "Left over cases from an imported gift sent straight to our Elector herself." His eyes dart nervously around the room as he says this.

I just stare at him. Tsingtao beer? My father would've laughed. There's no way in hell that the Republic 'signed an import deal' with China just to send quality imports to slum sectors. This guy is most likely overdue on paying his taxes. Regardless, I thank the man and step inside. This is a great place to dig up information. 

It's dark. The air smells like fried meat and gas lamps. I bump my way through the mess of tables and chairs-snatching food from a few unguarded plates as I go. Until I reach the bar. I hear a cheer, it appears that gamblers are betting on a bunch of fighters. The bartender doesn't bother to check my age. She doesn't even look at me. "What'll it be?" she asks.

I shake my head. "Just some water, please." I say. Behind us a bunch of gamblers cheer as one of the fighters go down. The bartender gives me a skeptical look and her eyes flick to my bandage. "What happened to your eye, kid?"

"Terrace accident. I tend cows." 

She makes a disgusted face, but her interest grows. "That sucks. You sure you don't wanna beer to go with that? Must hurt." I shake my head again. 

"No thanks. I don't drink." She smiles at me. I have to admit she's pretty, she has glittering brown eyeshadow over her eye and a short, brown, bobbed hair cut. A dirty pair of goggles-she most likely sees many fights-hangs around her neck. I'd take my time to flirt with her if I wasn't hunting for information. 

"Lake girl, yeah?" she asks. "You came here to break hearts? Or did you come to fight?" she nods towards the fight. 

"Well...I actually came for information. You heard about a man around here in the last few days? Someone who says he has plague meds?"

She raises an eyebrow at me. "Yeah, I heard about that. There's a bunch of people trying to find him. I hear he's telling people he wants to give a plague cure to someone-one person only. That this person will know who he's talking about." 

I try to look amused. "Lucky person, yeah?"

She grins. "Yeah. No shit. He said he wants to meet this person tonight at midnight at the ten-second place."

"Ten second place?"

"Hell if I know. No one else does for that matter." She leans over the counter and lowers her voice. "I personally think the guy's just crazy." I laugh along with her but my mind is spinning. Almost three years ago, I broke into an Arcadia bank through the alley that runs behind it. One of the security guards tried to kill me. When he spat at me and told me I'd be cut to pieces by the bank vault's lasers, I taunted him. I told him it would take me ten second to break into that vault room. And I did. That's the last confirmation that they're looking for me specifically. I have an appointment to keep. 

**Lena**

I'm wearing long black sleeves inside a striped black vest, slender black pants tucked into boots, and a black mask covers my face and infrared goggles shield my eyes. Other than that I have a tiny microphone, an even tinier earpiece and a gun just in case. I need to look genderless and unidentifiable. Like a black-market dealer, but rich enough to buy plague cures.

Lex would've shaken his head at me. _You cant just go on a classified mission alone, Lena. You might get hurt._ How ironic. I head off towards the stairs that will tke me outside the Batalla Hall and down toward the Arcadia bank where I'm supposed to meet Supergirl.

My brother as been dead for 120 hours. It feels like longer. Seventy hours ago, I gained clearance to search the Internet and found out as much about Supergirl as I could. Forty hours ago, I laid out a plan for tracking Supergirl to Commander Edge. Thirty two hours ago, he approved. Thirty hours ago, I sent one scout to every plague-infected sector in National City and spread the word: someone has plague medicine, come to ten-second place. Twenty nine hours ago, I attended Lex's funeral.

I don't plan on catching Supergirl tonight. She's not going to show her face. But I know she's going to be here. She needs plague meds desperately enough.

I take the long way through Batalla, through the sector's side roads and abandoned buildings. The street police wont know I'm on a mission, they'll question me if they see me dressed like this. The Arcadia bank lies on a quiet street. I go around the bank's back side until I'm in front of a parking lot at the end of an alleyway. There I wait.

The clock on my visor reads 22:53 hours. (11:53 in non military time) I pass the time by forcing myself to think through Supergirl's history.

Before the robbery at this bank, Supergirl had already appeared on our records three times. Those were the only incidents where we found fingerprints-I can only guess at the number of other crimes she's committed. I take a closer look at the bank's alleyway. How did she break into this bank in ten seconds, with four armed guards at the back entrance? 

Suddenly I tense up. It's two minutes past midnight. A clicking sound echoes from somewhere far away. I scan the roofs. Nothing yet. But the hairs on my neck rise. I know she's watching me. "Come out." I say. The microphone at my mouth makes my voice sound like a man's. 

Silence. I remove a vial from a holster at my belt. My other hand doesn't leave the handle of my gun. "I have what you need." I say, waving around the vial for emphasis. 

This time, however I hear the faintest sigh, a breath. My eyes dart to the speakers lining the roofs. That's what the clicking sound was, she rewired the speakers so she can talk to me without revealing her location. I smile behind my mask, its what I would have done. 

"I know you need this, I assure you its the real thing. Someone you care about will wish you come out to greet me." Finally a smooth voice in the speakers answers back.

"You may find this hard to believe, but I don't trust you. While I don't doubt you have the plague cure, you don't sound like you're from the poorer sectors or even used to being in the poor sectors. Also you stance tells me that you have a gun close by. But lets say you are a real black market dealer. Also your cloak knot. I'm not sure what it is but it isn't civilian." (From the sound of her voice, she's most likely from Lake sector.)

This surprises me a little. My cloak knot is indeed a Canto knot, a sturdy knot that military officials like to use. Apparently Supergirl has some detailed knowledge of how government uniforms look. Impressive eye. I'm quick to cover up my hesitation. 

"Good to find someone else who knows what a Canto knot is." 

I wait, listening for another breath over the speakers. Nothing. From the second she saw me she knew she couldn't trust me, so why entertain me? 

Another voice sounds in my head. This time it comes from my tiny earpiece. "Are you there, Luthor?" It's Commander Edge. I can hear the buzz of other people in his office in the background. 

"She left. but she gave me clues." I whisper.

"Tipped him off about whom you work for didn't you? Well its your first time on your own. See you back at Batalla Hall." His rebuke stings a bit. Before IO can respond the static cuts off. 

I wait another minute, just to see if I hadn't misread Supergirl's exit. Silence. The easiest solution would be to round up everyone whose doors are marked in Lake sector, that'll draw her attention. But no one would agree to that. I need to take matters into my own hands. If I cant force Supergirl to come to me, I'll have to go to her.

**Kara**

"Eat something, yeah? Nia's voice shakes me out of my vigil. I look away from the lake to see her holding out a piece of bread and cheese, gesturing for me to take it. I should be hungry. I've only had an apple since my encounter with the strange government agent but still the cheese and bread doesn't seem tempting. 

I take it anyway, I would never waste perfect food, especially since I've seen firsthand what some kids in the poorer sectors go through, heck I've lived through it. 

Nia and I are sitting in the sand underneath the pier, at the part of the lake that crosses into our sector. We blend into the shadows, we can taste the salt in the air with how close we are to the ocean. 

"You still have time." Nia says to me. "Probably a month or more. We'll find the plague medicine, I'm sure of it." 

For a girl with no family and no home, Nia is surprisingly optimistic. I try to smile for her sake. "Maybe," I say. "Maybe the hospital will let down it's guard after a couple of weeks." But in my heart and mind I know better. Nia spent years on the street so she should know better as well, but she's still naïve.

Earlier in the day, I risked a peek at Eliza's house. The strange X is still marked on the door. Jeremiah and Eliza looked okay, strong enough to stand and walk around. But Alex...this time Alex was lying in bed with a cloth on her forehead. Even with the distance I could tell she lost weight. 

Jeremiah warned me not to pull anymore stunts, incase I get killed. I'd rather die for a family that took care of me than die knowing I did nothing to help. 

"Alex always gets sick, you know." I say after a while. I take a large bite of the bread and cheese. "When we were younger, she got some kind of pox, she got rashes and fevers. The soldiers almost marked our door but it obviously wasn't the plague and no one else seemed to have it." I shake my head. "I never got sick." 

Nia doesn't smile this time. "I was pretty sick when you first met me. Remember how grimy I looked?" 

Suddenly I felt awful for talking about my problems so much the past few days. At least I have a family to worry about. I bump her shoulder with mine "Yeah, you looked pretty awful." 

I still don't remember what made me stop and talk to her that afternoon, maybe I saw a bit of me in her. It seemed like only yesterday that I found her looking frightened and scared in that alleyway and I offered her food to let me help her. 

_

Nia bolts out of her sleep. Her arm whack my head. "Ouch." I mutter while rubbing my head. "If you wanted to wake me up you could have just tapped me."

She holds a finger to her lips. Now I'm on alert. We're still under the pier, but its probably a few hours till dawn and its already dark. I glance at Nia with a questioning look. 

"Did you hear that?" she whispers. I frown. Usually I can hear something suspicious before Nia does, but this time I hear nothing. "What did you hear the first time?"

"It sounded like...something gurgling." She whispers. Before I can question whatever that means, I hear footsteps and then a voice approaching the pier above us. We both shrink into the shadows. There's a pair of street police. 

"There's something brewing." one of the police says. "Plague's popped up in the Zein sector this time."

Their footsteps clomp over head as they most likely reached the beginning of the pier. 

"I've never heard of the plague showing up there."

:"Must be a stronger strain."

"What are they gonna do?" I try to hear what the other policeman says in response but they're too far to hear now. The Zein sector is a good thirty miles from here-but what if the strange mark on Eliza's door means they're infected with this new strain? 

"Kara," Nia whispers. I look at her. She turns against the bank so now her back faces the ocean. She points to a hard surface I had my back against. It seems to be metal and what's holding up the pier

Nia looks at me," It's hollow."

"Hollow?" I put my ear against the cool metal. I hear a gurgling sound-the sound Nia heard earlier. I notice symbols carved on it. One is a Republic flag imprinted and the other is a number in red: 318

**Lena**

"I should be the one going, not you." I grit my teeth and try not to look at Eve. She's been overly anxious today about me going today. Maybe she doesn't want another Luthor dead. 

"I'll look less suspicious than you. You're too uptight. And people find it easier to trust me." We're standing in front of a window in Batalla Halls' north wing, watching Commander Jameson at work on the other side of the glass. 

Today they caught a spy from the Colonies who was spreading propaganda about "how the Republic is lying to you!" Spies are usually shipped out to Midvale, but if they're caught in a big city like National City we take them before the capital does. From the corner of my eye I can see Eve looking at me. Commander Edge officially promoted her to fill my brother's position which is surprising considering how sexist Commander Edge has been in the past, and in my opinion Eve isn't even the best on the patrol. 

Eve still doesn't have much power over what I choose to do on this mission, and it drives her crazy.

The spy obviously isn't a Patriot since every Patriot we've caught has killed himself before getting taken in. We've only caught male spies, A woman wouldn't be as reckless to get caught. 

I'm going to Lake sector anyway, starting tomorrow morning. "Look don't worry about me." Through the glass, I see the spy arch his back in agony. "I can take care of myself. Supergirl isn't a fool-if I have a team following me through the city, she'll notice in no time." Eve sighs. 

"I know you're good at what you do." I wait for a but. It doesn't come. "Just keep your microphone on at all times." I smile and nod, looking back at the interrogation. The prisoner continues to scream and I suddenly feel how stuffy the room is. 

The spy glares at each of us in turn. Blood runs from his mouth and drips onto the floor beneath him. Whenever he thrashes, Commander Edge stomps on the chain around his neck until he stops. 

Commander Edge bends down and smiles coldly at him. "Let's start again shall we? What's your name?" The spy still says nothing. Commander Edge sighs and nods to Eve. "My hands are tired." he says. "You do the honors"

"Yes sir." Eve salutes and steps forward and punches the spy hard in the stomach. The spy coughs up more blood on the floor. 

"What's your name?" Commander Edge asks him again. Eve flips open a knife and grabs one of the spy's fingers. The spy swallows hard.

"Adam Joseph James." 

"Mr. Adam Joseph James, of East Texas." Commander Edge says it in a light, coaxing voice. "A pleasure to meet you, young sir. Tell me, why did the Colonies send you over to our fine Republic? To spread their lies?"

The spy let's out a week laugh. "Fine Republic." he snaps. "Your Republic wont last another decade. And all the better, too-once the Colonies take over, they'll make better use of it-"

Eve hits the guy with the hilt of her knife. A tooth skids across the floor. When I look back at Eve, a hair on her face is out of place, she has this this look of cruel pleasure written on her face. I've never seen this look on Eve's face before; it chills me.

The next thing I know, Eve goes to work on the spy and another soldier works to hold the spy in place. I force myself to watch, I have to familiarize myself with this. My ears ring from the spy's screams. I ignore how much the spy looks like Lex, how his first name is the same as Lex's middle name, how he looks to be the same age of Lex. I tell myself it isn't Lex that Eve is now torturing. That would be impossible. Lex can't be tortured, he's already dead.

-

I'm in the Lake sector, watching the strengthening daylight paint the churning waterwheels and turbines gold. A layer of smoke hovers perpetually ove the water's edge. A policeman approaches me and tells me to stop loitering. 

From the distance, I blend in completely with those walking around me. I was careful about the type of knot I used this time, a simple Rose knot, something any worker would use. I pulled my hair back into a tight, high ponytail and put a newsboy cap over it. 

Supergirl's pendant necklace sits snugly in my pocket. I can't believe how filthy the streets are here. Every building is faded, crumbling and pockmarked-except of course police headquarters. God, is this how the poor sectors live? How can anyone live like this. I crinkle my nose at the stench, then stop realizing I need to look like I'm used to it.

Several men grin at me as I pass by. One even calls out to me. I ignore them and keep walking. What a bunch of animals, men who barely passed their Trials. I wonder if I can catch the plague from these people even though I'm vaccinated. Then I stop myself. Lex had always told me never to judge the poor like that. _Well he's a better person than me_ , I think bitterly. 

The tiny microphone in my cheek vibrates a bit. Then a faint sound comes from my earpiece. "Ms. Luthor." Eve's voice comes out as a tiny hum only I can hear. "Everything working?"

"Yup." I murmur. "In central Lake now. I'm going dark for a bit."

"Got it." Eve says and her side falls silent. I make a clicking sound with my tongue to turn off my mic. I spend a lot of time pretending to rummage garbage bins, I hear all kinds of rumors and stories from other beggars. 

Some of the beggars look too young to have even taken the Trials. Kids live like this? The youngest ones talk about their parents or how to pickpocket a soldier. But no one talks about Supergirl. Hours drag on and I find a quiet alley to rest in, with a few other beggars already asleep in bins. 

I study Supergirl's pendant once again, holding it up slightly so I can study it's smooth bumps. When I finally fall asleep, I have a bad dream about Lex. 

I find nothing the next day or the day after, my hair grows tangled and dull in the heat and smoke, and dirt has started to coat my face. I look exactly like a street beggar when I look at my reflection. Everything feels dirty. It's not the first time I question how they can live like this. 

On the fourth day, I spend my time wandering through the bars. That's when something happens. I stumble into a Skiz fight.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nia gets into the middle of a Skiz fight. Lena takes her place in the fight. Kara ends up having to save Lena.

**Kara**

The rules for watching and betting on a Skiz fight are pretty simple. 

1\. You pick who you think will win

2\. You bet on the person

It's pretty simple. The only problem is when you're too infamous to risk placing a public bet and possibly get picked up by the police. 

This afternoon I'm crouched behind the chimney of a crumbling building. From here I can see the crowd of people gathered in the abandoned building next door. I'm even close enough to hear some conversations.

And Nia. Nia is down there with them, her small frame nearly lost in the shuffle, with a pouch of our money and a smile on her face. I watch as she listens to a few gamblers and ask them a few questions. While I cant stand in the crowds, Nia is slender and can escape more easily that I can now. 

A noise comes from one end of the crowd. My eyes flick there for a second. One of the fighters is stirring the onlookers by waving and yelling. I smile. That girl is Roulette, or so the crowd's chants tell me. The same Roulette I saw at the bar three days ago while passing through the Atla sector. 

Roulette already won a match. Going by the unspoken rules of Skiz, she must fight until she loses a round, until someone throws her to the ground. Everytime she wins she gets a cut of the overall bet on her opponent. 

I bolt upright as I see Nia pushed her way past one of the larger gamblers. He shouts something angry and before Nia can apologize, she's pushed into the ring's center. 

Anger boils in my chest. Lucy seems to be amused by the whole thing. "Is that a challenge, kid? Ya look like fun." Nia looks around bewildered. She tries to step back but her path is blocked. I rise up about to defend Nia when a voice rings from below. I pause. Some girl made her way to the front of the ring, where she stares at Roulette. 

"Doesn't seem like a fair fight." she calls out. 

Roulette laughs. There's a brief silence. Then Roulette shouts back, "Who the hell do you think you are. Talking to me like that? Think you're better?" She points at the girl, and the crowd lets out a cheer. I see Nia scurry back into the crowd. 

I study Roulette's new opponent. She's not much taller than Nia and is definitely lighter than Roulette. For a second it seems the crowd's attention on her made her uncomfortable, but I realize she's actually hesitating because she's calculating, not because she's scared. 

She has midnight black hair tied back into a ponytail and a lean, athletic build. I find myself pausing to admire her face. She has a ghostly pale face and surprisingly trim eyebrows. 

The girl shakes her head at Roulette which also surprises me, no one has ever refused to fight. This girl doesn't seem to fear the crowd's wrath. Roulette laughs and says something I cant quite make out, but Nia hears it and casts me a quick, concerned glance. 

This time the girl nods and Roulette smiles as the crowd cheers. There's something about this girl...I don't know what it is. But her eyes shine in the light and although its hot and might be my imagination, I think I see a small smile on the girl's face. Nia shoots me a questioning look.

While I'm glad this mystery girl saved Nia, my money is on the line so I play it safe. Nia nods and cast her bet in favor of Roulette. But the instant the new girl steps into the circle and I see her stance, I realize I've made a big mistake. Roulette strikes like a bull, this girl strikes like a viper.

**Lena**

I'm not worried about losing this fight. I'm more worried that I'll accidentally kill my opponent. But if I run now, I'm a dead girl. 

I silently scold myself-what a game to involve myself in. I just wanted to do nothing with brawls, but figured I might learn some new information here. Surely Supergirl isn't a complete stranger to everyone in Lake, and if anyone knows him, its the crowd that watches illegal Skiz fights.

I shouldn't have said anything about the skinny girl they shoved into the ring. I should have let her fend for herself. Its too late now. I study my opponent, Roulette. She steps forward with her right foot. She's left handed. Usually this would work to her advantage and throw off her opponents, but I've trained for this. My ears are drowning in the noise. I let her strike first she lunges toward me but I can see her preparing to kick. I sidestep. Her kick whooshes past me and I use her momentum against her and strike her hard, she almost falls.

When Roulette turns back around, she's no longer smiling. She lunges at me again. I dodge twice but the third punch catches me across the jaw and makes my head spin. Every muscle in my body wants me to end this now, but I force my temper. If I fight too well people might get suspicious.

I let Roulette hit me one more time, she's smiling now, her confidence high again. I wait for her to charge. Then I dart forward, duck down and trip her. She ends up on her back. The crowd screams in approval. 

Roulette forces herself up, though most Skiz fights would have called her fall the end of the round. She lunges at me, and I should have seen a tiny flash of light near her wrist. I feel a sharp pain when she punches into my side. I hold my side and feel something warm and wet at my waist. I look down.

A stab wound. I narrow my eyes at Roulette, weapons aren't allowed in a Skiz fight. The pain makes me light headed and angry. No rules? So be it. When Roulette charges at me again, I dart away and twist her arm in a tight hold. In one move, I shatter it. She screams in agony. Finally Roulette taps my frantically with her other arm. The crowd goes wild. I clutch my bleeding side as tightly as I can. 

When Roulette is pulled out the ring she shoots me a look of hatred. I turn away and out of the ring, which obviously upsets the crowd. I look back to see several enraged gamblers and onlookers following me. I break into a run, but my wound slows me down, someone grabs my leg and yanks hard. Spots explode across my vision. I guess I failed as the last Luthor. 

Suddenly I hear a pop and a few shrieks and in an instant they release me, I fall to the ground. Someone must have set off a dust bomb. Then there's a voice telling me to get up,. When I look to my side, I see a girl holding out her hand. She has bright blue eyes that I could get lost in, dirt on her face and a baseball cap on. I think she might be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. "Come on" she urges in a soft voice. 

I taske her hand. In the dust and chaos, we hurry down the street and disappear into the afternoon's lengthening shadows.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's no summary, its a surprise. Also I really like reading your comments and I appreciate the small pieces of advice. I know you will have mixed feelings about this chapter and that's okay, so do I.

**Kara**

She wont tell me her name.

Which is fine, since I wont tell her mine. I didn't expect her to. I don't even want her to...I'm just curious. I should've left her to fend for herself, she saved Nia and I can't say no to her pout, especially when she learned it from me.

I'm still quite a bit closed off. Nia seemed eager to ask questions as she helped the Girl-that's what I'm going to call her-tend to her wounds. I'm on my guard, after the fight and my dust bomb we decided to camp out on the balcony of an old library. Its a good place for people like us to find shelter. I scan the streets for any angry gamblers still searching for the Girl.

The Girl says something that makes Nia smile cautiously. "My name is Nia." I hear her say. She knows better than to reveal my name. "What part of Lake are you from? Are you from another sector." She studies the Girl's wound. "That's a nasty one, but nothing that can't heal. I'll try to find some milk, it helps." 

I can tell by her face that the girl already knew this. She has quite a bit of knowledge for a simple street beggar, but so do we. "Thank you." she murmurs to Nia. She glances in my direction. "I'm grateful for your help." 

Nia smiles again but I can tell even she feels a bit uncomfortable with this stranger. "I'm grateful for yours." I tighten my jaw, it's almost night fall and I've added a wounded stranger to my duties. After a while, I rise and join Nia and the Girl. Somewhere in the distance the Republic's pledge plays from the city's speakers. 

"We'll stay here for the night." I look at the girl. "How are you feeling?" =]

"Okay." she replies, but it's obvious she's in pain. She keeps reaching for her wound. I have a strange urge to comfort her. "Why did you save me?"

I snort. "No clue, you cost me a thousand Notes." The Girl smiles for the first time, it's pretty, but it's also obvious she's analyzing my every word. She doesn't trust me. 

"You bet big don't you? Sorry, she made me angry." she shifts. "I'm guessing Roulette was no friend of yours." 

"She's a bartender. Just a recent acquaintance." 

Nia laughs and gives me a knowing look, "She likes to be acquainted with cute girls."

I scowl at her. The Girl has this look on her face. "You like....girls?" I must have had a defensive look on my face because she scrambles to explain herself. "Not that there's anything wrong with that-I really didn't mean to offend you, seriously. I also like girls, but where I'm from people don't quite like others that are different."

I give her a sympathetic look, my urge to comfort her just increases. I sit down next to the girl, my hand accidentally brushes her waist. Her breathing picks up for a second- I move away, afraid that I've hurt her. 

"That should heal soon, if it doesn't get infected. You might want to rest a couple of days, you can stay with us for now."

The girl shrugs. "Thanks, when I get better, I'm going to kick Roulette's ass, again." The Girl is very cocky, she's good and she knows it she most likely knows how pretty she is as well.

I lean back and study the Girl's face. She's paler than a lot of other girls in this sector, and has large light colored eyes. I can't tell if they're blue or green and I really want to find out. I cant tell where she's from. She's pretty in a way that distracts me, just like she did in the Skiz ring.

No. pretty isn't the right word. Beautiful. And she also reminds me of someone. Maybe it's the expression in her eyes, something coolly logical and defiant all at once...I feel my cheeks grow warm and I look away. Maybe I shouldn't have helped her. Way too distracting. 

All I'm thinking about is what'd it be like to kiss her or run my fingers through her dark hair. "So, Girl." I say after a while, "thanks for helping Nia. Where'd you learn to fight like that? You broke Roulette's arm without trying." 

The Girl hesitates. I see her watch me from the corner of my eye. When I turn to face her, she pretends to study the water instead, as if embarrassed to be caught looking. Strange. She touches her side and makes a clicking sound with her tongue as if out of habit. "I hang around the edge of Batalla a lot, I like to watch the cadets practice."

"Wow, you're a Risk taker. But your fighting is really impressive, I bet you don't have much trouble on your own."

The Girl laughs, it might be stupid to think this, but it sounds smooth, like honey, or velvet. "You can see how well I did on my own today. I shouldn't have watched the Skiz fight at all, but what can I say? Your friend looked like she needed some help." She then shifts her gaze to me. "What about you? Were you in the crowd?"

"No, Nia was down there because she likes seeing the action and she's a bit nearsighted. I like watching from a distance."

"Nia. Is she your little sister."

I hesitate, the conversation is getting a bit too personal. "Yeah, close enough. It was really Nia that I wanted to keep safe with my dust bomb, you know."

The Girl raises an eyebrow at me and smirks. That shouldn't be as hot as she's making it. "You're so kind. And does everyone around her know how to make a dust bomb?" 

I wave my hand dismissively. "Of course, even kids can. Its easy." I look at her, "You're not from the Lake sector, are you?" The Girl shakes her head."

"Tanagashi sector. I mean, I used to live there."

"Tanagashi is pretty far away. You came all that way for a Skiz fight?"

"Of course not." The Girl leans back down and carefully lies down. I can see the center of her bandage turning a dark red. 

"Be careful who you're around. You might catch the plague down here." The Girl smiles at me, as if she knows something I don't. I wish I could figure out who she reminds me of. "Don't worry. I'm a careful girl.. when I'm not angry."

-

When evening finally comes and the Girl falls asleep, I ask Nia to stay with her so I can check on my family. Tess is happy to do it. Going to plague infected parts of Lake makes her nervous. Nia helps me wrap my hands in cloth to avoid leaving fingerprints. 

The night feels surprisingly cool. No plague patrols wandering the streets. The strange X on the door is still there, still taunting me. I wait in the shadows near Eliza's house, close enough so I can actually peek through the gaps of the backyard fence. 

I see Eliza holding on to Alex through the window, stroking her hair. If she wasn't so weak she'd most likely tell Eliza to stop treating her like a baby. I'm overwhelmed, I miss Eliza and Alex, I want to rush and knock on the door. But I cant the risk is too great. 

I see a flower, a thyme it seems to be wilting, next to it something red in the dirt catches my eye. I frown, then brush the dirt to get a better look. It's a number just like the one Nia and I saw near the lake. Except this one says: 2544.

I lean down and put my ear against the ground. At first there's nothing. Then a faint sound, a whoosh-then a hissing and gurgling. Like some sort of liquid is passing through it. There's probably a whole system of pipes down there. Maybe all around the sector. The number looks faded with age.

I stay there for a while, studying it. I glance over once more, then make my way out into the shadows, and away into the city.

**Lena**

I wake up at dawn. The light makes me squint. For a moment I'm disoriented, confused on why I'm sleeping in an abandoned building. A sharp pain in my stomach forces a gasp out of me. I remember the Skiz fight and the cute girl who saved me. 

Nia hurries over when she sees me stir. She's still wary of me. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore." I mutter, I don't want her to think she did a bad job of wrapping my wound so I add, "Much better than yesterday, though." It takes me a minute to realize that the girl that saved me is sitting in the corner of the room, dangling her legs over the balcony. I have to hide my embarrassment.

On a normal day, with no knife wound, I never would've let a detail like that go unnoticed. She went somewhere last night, when I was slipping in and out of sleep I saw her go somewhere near the south, toward Union Station.

"I hope you don't mind waiting a few hours before eating." she says to me. She's wearing an old newsboy cap, but I can see a few strands of her white-blonde hair beneath. "We lost the Skiz bet, so there's no money left for food right now."

 _She blames me for her loss. Not my fault she bet against me, never bet against a Luthor._ I just nod. I recall the sound of Supergirl's voice in the speakers and compare it to the girl's. She stares at me without smiling, as if she knows what I'm doing. No, I can't be sure the voice belongs to her. Thousands of people in Lake could match that voice.

I realize my mouthpiece in my cheek is still turned off. Eve must be furious. "Nia," I say. "I'm going down to the water. I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay stay safe and be careful."

I smile. "Of course, If you see me floating unconscious out to see, come and get me." 

The steps of the building definitely used to be apart of a stairwell, but now they sit open to the outside. I get to my feet and limp down the stairs one at a time, careful not to fall. Whatever Nia did last night seems to be working, although it still burns the pain is way less. 

I make it down to the bottom of the building faster than I thought I would. I make my way to the water's edge. The rising sun is now high enough to bathe the entire body of water in a shade of murky gold. Nia and the girl sit at the top of the building, several stories away, out of hearing range. 

I click my tongue, turning on my mic. Static buzzes from my earpiece, a second later, I hear a familiar voice. "Ms. Luthor?" Eve asks. "Is that you?"

"Yes Eve." I murmur. "I'm fine"

"What've you been up to, Ms. Luthor? I've been trying to contact you for the past twenty-four hours. I was ready to send troops to get you out of there. And you know how Commander Edge would feel about that." I sigh. 

"I'm fine." I say again. My hand digs in my pocket and pulls out Supergirl's pendant. "Got a minor injury in a Skiz fight. Nothing serious."

"Well you're not going to go that long with your mic off again, you hear me?" 

"Well, anyways these two girls helped me get out the Skiz fight. One of them bandaged my wound." I don't mention anything about being unable to walk properly. "The older girl made a fancy dust bomb to get us out the Skiz mob. She has some skill. I don't know who she is, but I'll get more information."

"Think she's Supergirl?" Eve asks. "Supergirl doesn't seem like she goes around saving people." _Most of Supergirl's previous crimes involve helping people. Everyone but Lex._ I take a deep breath.

"No. I don't think so." I lower my voice till its barely a whisper. I don't want to throw wild guesses at Eve and then have her send troops after me. Commander Edge already doesn't like me, that would permanently take me off the patrol. "But they might know something about Supergirl." 

Eve is silent for a moment. "Well be careful, and if your mic goes dark again for more than a few hours, I'm sending soldiers after you. Understand?"

I fight to conceal my irritation. "Yes ma'am" When Eve doesn't respond I look back up to the girl. I remind myself to watch her more closely and not let my injury distract me. I stuff the pendant back in my pocket and rise. 

-

I observe my rescuer all day as I follow her around the Atla sector. I take note of every little detail. For instance she has a slight limp, its so slight I can rarely tell, but there's a hesitation when she bends her knee. It could be a serious injury that never quite healed, or a minor but recent one. A bad fall maybe. 

That's not her only injury. Now and then she winces when she moves her arm too much. I realize she must have some sort of wound on her upper arm. 

Her face is perfectly symmetrical, she's beautiful behind the dirt and smudges. Her right eye is slightly paler than the left, I thought it was a trick of the light but up close it's the same. I wonder how it happened or whether it's something she was born with. 

I notice other things as well, how familiar she is with the Lake sector, how nimble her fingers are, how she memorizes everything and most importantly Nia never says her name. Just like how they call me "Girl" they use nothing to identify who she is. 

She stops to find water when I grow tired of walking. She can sense my exhaustion without me uttering a word. 

Afternoon approaches. Tess squints at the stands from under the awning. We're a good fifty feet away. She's nearsighted but somehow she's able to pick out the differences between the fruit vendors and vegetable vendors.

"How do you do that? You're nearsighted, how can you see so much that's around you." Nia seems surprised for a moment-then impressed. Beside her, the other girl glances at me. 

"I can tell subtle differences between colors, even though they may look a little blurry. I can see silver Notes peeking out of that man's purse, for example." She flicks her eyes towards one of the customers at the vendor. 

These two have a strange way of making me lose my composure. 

"You're a perceptive one, Girl." The blonde says quietly. Her eyes are locked on mine. "I can see why you've survived on the streets."

I just shrug, "It's the only way to survive, isn't it?" The blonde shifts her eyes away. I release a breath. I realize that I was holding my breath while her eyes kept me frozen in place. 

"Maybe you should be the one to help us steal food, not me." she continues. "Vendors trust pretty girls more." 

"Well you're pretty as well, and I know that you know that you're pretty." The blonde just laughs in response. It's the first time I've heard her laugh. She has a beautiful laugh. 

When evening finally comes and the heat begins to fade, we make our way back to the water's edge and search for a place to camp. I still cant get used to the crumbling walls, the lines of worn clothing hanging from the balconies, the cluster of young beggars hoping for a bite to eat from passerby's...but at least my disdain has faded. 

I think back in shame to the night of Lex's funeral when I left a giant steak untouched on my plate. Nia's humming a familiar tune while walking. "Symphony Number 9." I mumble, recognizing the song. 

The blonde glances at me from where she's walking by my side. She grins. "You know Beethoven?"

I can't tell her I own several copies of his music and has even played one of his songs on my own piano. So I just smile. "Yeah, guess so." She returns my smile. Her teeth are beautiful, the loveliest I've seen so far on these streets. 

"Nia loves music, she always drags me past the bars so she can listen to whatever music they're playing on the piano."

Half an hour later the girl starts to notice my fatigue again. She calls Nia back and guides us over to one of the alleys. She crouches and motions for Nia and me to sit down, and begins unzipping her jacket. 

I blush pink and thank the gods for the darkness surrounding us. "I'm not cold and I'm not bleeding." I say to her "Keep your jacket on."

The girl looks at me. I thought her eyes would dim a bit in the darkness but instead they seem to be just as bright if not, brighter. She's amused. "Who said anything about you, darling?" She takes of her jacket, revealing a black tank top that showed off nice arms. 

She places the jacket on the ground after folding it neatly. Nia sits down and lays her head on it as if from habit. I can hear a muffled sound from her, as if she tried to cover a laugh. 

I clear my throat, "Of course." I mutter. I ignore the blonde's laugh. Nia stays up to talk with us but soon her eyelids grow heavy, and she falls asleep. The blonde and I lapse into silence. "Nia, seems very fragile." I whisper.

"Yeah, but she's tougher than she looks." 

I glance up at her. "You're lucky to have her with you." My eyes flick down to her leg. "Must;'ve come in handy when she fixed up your leg."

She realized I noticed her limp. "She didn't fix my leg, I got it a long time ago. " She hesitates, as if she was about to add more but decides against it. "How's your wound healing by the way?"

I wave her off. "Its fine." But I wince even as I say it. The pain has been returning like wildfire. 

The blonde sees the strain in my face. "Do you mind if I change your bandages? You kind of look like you're in pain." I nod and she gets up to carefully pull a roll of white wraps out of Nia's pocket. "I'm not as good as her, but I'd rather not wake her."

She sits besides me and loosens the bottom two buttons of my shirt, and reveals my slightly red, bandaged waist. Her skin brushes mine, I try to stay focused on her hands. She reaches behind one of her boots and pulls out a combat kitchen knife. Patternless silver handle, worn edge-she's used it to cut tougher things than cloth. 

One of her hands rest against my stomach. Even though her fingers are calloused, they're careful and gentle. I feel heat rush to my face. "Hold still." she murmurs. Then she cuts the cloth. I wince. She lifts the bandage from my wound. 

Tiny beads of blood seep from where Roulette stabbed me, but thankfully there's no signs of infections. Nia knows her stuff. The blonde pulls the rest of the bandage away from my waist and tosses them aside, and starts wrapping the new bandages around me. "We'll stay here until late morning." she says as she works. 

I nod my head, there are way too many signs screaming at me that this handsome, blonde, blue eyed stranger is somehow Supergirl. Once she's done I look up to see her already staring at me, her pretty blue eyes shining. 

"Are your eyes blue or green?" she asks, she's closer 

"They're a mix of both kind of and no one has ever asked me about the color before, so thank you for noticing." I feel my cheeks heat up as the blonde leans closer. 

"How could anyone not notice?" she opens her mouth to speak again and I already know the question she's about to ask, "Can I kiss you?"

I nod my head so much it feels like it might fall off. I forget about my earpiece, that I'm on a mission when the blonde softly grabs my chin and places her lips on mine. I flutter my eyes shut, enjoying the moment until the Republic's pledge started blaring from the speakers, making me snap back to reality. 

_I'm on a mission. Even if the blonde wasn't a criminal I barely even know her._ I think about the earpiece in my ear, the fact that my mic was on the whole time. I'm most likely going to hear an earful from Commander Edge and Eve. 

I clear my throat and sit down on the cold ground, leaning my head against the brick wall of an abandoned building. Well, maybe I can follow the blonde if she goes wherever it is she goes when Nia and I are sleep and forget all about what just happened. 

I wait. And I wait, remembering to keep my breathing steady. Until finally I can hear the blonde checking to make sure I'm truly asleep, and then the girl leaves as quietly as possible. 

-

After a few minutes pass, I get up, careful not to wake Nia and follow in the direction the blonde ran off in. Time to get some answers.

**Author's Note:**

> remember to stay hydrated and eat at appropriate times. If you're reading this and you have not slept please go to sleep and read this when your body is less tired. Tell me what you think and I promise you I WILL finish this one and since my finals are over I have much more time to work on the fanfics I have yet to finish. I guess I made a smau account where I make awful smau but you can follow it just to ask me questions or follow just if you like the smau and fanfic or if you just want to be friends my twitter @ is @aretodetwo . Yes I am a star wars nerd.


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